Never Again
by Kgirl1
Summary: He had sworn never to harm himself or anyone ever again. But now, the temptations had resurfaced. ONESHOT.


**Takes place right after Legacy; Vert's flashbacks are in italics. Yes, I did something similar to this, but it was me, so it's not copying! **

**Yeah, I found that loophole. XD**

**This could be considered the "Mini Sequel" a reviewer requested to "Torn Apart," but has no relation to it. So, forget that "Torn Apart" ever happened, because the two stories are not related at all. Just a different point of view of Vert's emotions. Enjoy!**

_A knock on the door. _

_He hurriedly buried the knife under the pillow, desperately yanking at the sleeves of his formless sweatshirt._

"_What?" His voice was tired and weary; disguising the pain underneath._

"_Can I come in?" His sister. Guilt tugged at his heart. She was being so strong. With their mother out searching and rarely in their home, and he was hiding everything from her, the only family who hadn't betrayed him. He stood, leaving the dark solace of his room to face her._

"_What?" It was a cold word, and she flinched just at his voice. He didn't mean to sound brusque, but there was hardly any emotion left in the shell that he had become._

"_I-I was just wondering how you were doing. It's getting late, are you hungry?" She asked cautiously, peering into his dark eyes and seeing nothing but the reflection of her own; the same reason Vert found it so hard to face her._

_Their father's eyes. Sea-green, always happy, they fit his younger sibling._

_But not either of their moods._

"_I'm fine." He said shortly in response. He had no hunger for anything lately. Just solitude._

"_But Vert! You haven't eaten anything today! My teacher says-"_

"_Rebekah. I'm. Fine." He said. She couldn't know how he felt. She was so young, barely eleven. He was fifteen. _

_She didn't understand._

_No one understands._

"_Okay." She said, sounding forlorn. _

That had been over five years ago.

"_Vert." Her voice was soft and sad. "Let someone in."_

"_Rebekah…"_

_They were now eighteen and fourteen. One leaving high school, the other just getting used to it. He hadn't been there for her; had become irritated by her constant questions and simply brushed them off. She was discontent, but silent. Now they rarely spoke. _

_Rarely did anyone in their household speak. Their mother worked two jobs to support her family. Rebekah was busy; basketball, advanced classes and Student Council taking their toll. Vert had dropped out of football; lost contact with most of his friends. It was a lonely life, one that he felt anger at having chosen, but anger just turned to sadness, and the depression, festered and built until finding an outlet._

_One that hid under his pillow; buried under sheets and secrets._

"_Ever since Dad…disappeared, you never want to talk. You've lost weight, you're failing your classes. You just sit upstairs, holed up in your room! I only want to help, you, Vert! I hate seeing my own brother like his!" She exclaimed in a courageous display of the feelings she had hidden those three years. She tried to come off as defiant, but in all honesty his condition scared her. Vert's face was pale and thin; a sad ghost of the social, muscular athlete he once had been. His grades had sunk to the point where she worried if he would graduate. Sometimes she feared there was something gravely wrong with her brother. The bottom line was, he was the only family she had left._

_Rebekah couldn't lose him too._

"_There's nothing wrong with me! Why can't you all just leave me alone?" He demanded, the anger directed not only at her but at everything._

"_Because I love you!" She screamed, clenched fists at her sides. Rebekah took a calming breath. "Why are you so angry?"_

"_I'm not." He hastily denied her, taking a step back to block the doorway to his room._

"_Vert, you..." Her eyes shifted. She glanced inside the room, darting within. Vert tried to stop her, but was too late._

"_No!" He roared._

_He had had no time to hide the knife._

_Rebekah shrieked just as he entered; she had seen it, lying there on his desk. The condemning piece of evidence was all her fears needed to be confirmed._

"_Vert..." She took it by the hilt with shaky hands, as if holding a deadly cobra. "Why?" Tears of pain and sorrow welled in her eyes._

"_I-I..." Vert couldn't bear to finish. The sticky crimson residue told her all. In a surge of adrenaline, he sprinted for the door, desperate for escape. She grabbed him by his wrist in restraint. _

"_No!" The agony of her grip on his abused flesh overwhelmed him, blurring his vision. His instincts seized control as he mindlessly pulled back his fist, making contact._

_The tortured scream of his sister broke the spell. Rebekah's shocked eyes met his own as she clutched her shoulder. The knife clattered to the ground between them, forming an invisible barrier. _

"_I-I'm..." His voice caught as he recognized the emotion in her eyes: raw terror._

"_No." She breathed, choking out the words. "St-Stay away from me!"_

_Ashamed, Vert turned and fled._

That was the last time he had touched the knife. He had sworn never to harm himself or anyone ever again.

And now, there it stood, in front of him. Tempting him.Vert knew of the promise, but he sought relief from the pain.

_Vert...let someone in._ Her voice rung in his ears. Rebekah would never have wanted him to fall down the old path. A smile finally crossed his features as he slid it into the drawer, twisting a key in the old padlock and almost light-heartedly dropping it into his trash can.

He didn't need the knife.

Not anymore.


End file.
